Prosecutors say they will re-try a man on manslaughter charges for allegedly turning a San Francisco Bay Area warehouse into a cluttered maze that killed 36 at a party.
Alameda County jurors last month could not agree on a verdict against 49-year-old Derick Almena, splitting 10-2 in favor of finding Almena guilty. They acquitted 29-year-old Max Harris.
The Dec. 2, 2016, fire broke out during an electronic music party at a warehouse known as the Ghost Ship in Oakland.
Prosecutors allege Almena was criminally negligent when he illegally converted the industrial building into a residence for artists and held unpermitted events inside.
Almena's attorneys argued that city workers were to blame for not raising concerns about fire hazards in the warehouse.
Almena's wife Micah Allison says she is saddened that the judge refused to lower her husband's bail so he could return home to his children. He has been jailed for more than two years.
She says the family will never be the same and that there is "absolutely no way that anyone has not grown or changed from this situation."
(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
